It doesn’t even matter that practically no big releases have dropped into theaters all of January, audiences still didn’t want to pay for Argylle. Matthew Vaughn’s starry spy comedy, led by Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill, and John Cena, only hit $18M for the weekend. Sure, it’s the top spot, but so what? Apple put a heavy $200M into the film, and they’re not getting anything back. A total of $35M worldwide is all they got for the debut weekend, and a 35% on the Rotten Tomatoes score. It’s a bad movie, for sure, and I think it had pricey flop written all over it.
2. The Chosen: S4 Episodes 1-3– $7.4M
At number two isn’t even a movie, it’s Fathom Events’ special screening of the first three episodes of The Chosen‘s fourth season. Apparently it’s about Jesus? That’s all I know about it.
3. The Beekeeper– $5.2M/$49.4M
4. Wonka– $4.7M/$201.1M
5. Migration– $4.1M/$106.1M
6. Mean Girls– $4M/$66.3M
7. Anyone But You– $3.5M/$76.2M
8. American Fiction– $2.3M/$15M
One of the best reviewed films of the year, American Fiction continues to build after eight weeks in release, making the most of its five Oscar nominations. The Jeffrey Wright literary dramedy has $15M on a budget of under $10M, which has to make Amazon/MGM happy.
9. Poor Things– $2.1M/$28.1M
10. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom– $2M/$120.7M
At $423M worldwide, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is probably going to exit the charts soon as it’s now available on digital. A rather sad farewell to the DCEU and this franchise, which fell hard after Aquaman made $1.1B in 2018.
When horror fans get the scent of a potentially special horror film in the air, they never let it go. And that has certainly been the case recently for Longlegs, which dropped a chilling promo that needed to be decoded a few days ago, and today reveals a slightly more thorough teaser, revealing what appears to be a Silence of the Lambs-esque serial killer experience led by Nicolas Cage and It Follows breakout Maika Monroe.
The film is directed by Oz Perkins, the son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins. He’s revealed some twisted depths previously with films such as The Blackcoat’s Daughter, I Am the Pretty Thing that Lives in the House, and his best in my opinion, Gretel & Hansel.
Monroe stars as talented new FBI agent Lee Harker, who has been assigned to an unsolved case of a serial killer. As the investigation becomes more complicated with occult evidence uncovered, Harker realizes a personal link to the ruthless killer and must act quickly to prevent another family murder.
And Cage, who is also a producer on the film, plays the serial killer. Guh. Also in the cast are Alicia Witt and Blair Underwood. Perkins not only directed the film but wrote the screenplay.
Both promos are below, including the first that features a 911 call that’ll give you full-body chills. Otherwise, a lot about this movie remains a mystery, and that’s a good thing. Let’s hope it stays that way.
NEON will release Longlegs into theaters on July 12th. Expect the buzz to continue building until then.
It is with the heaviest of hearts that we have learned of the death of Carl Weathers at the age of 76. The New Orleans starred in more than 75 movies and TV shows in his career, and had been experiencing a career resurgence thanks to his role on The Mandalorianas Greef Karga. But he will always be known best for playing Apollo Creed in four Rocky movies, along with other key roles in Predator, Happy Gilmore, and Toy Story 4 where he voiced Combat Carl.
But it was his starring role in 1988’s Action Jackson that showed Weathers’ true leading man potential and box office star power. The film earned $65M on a small budget and nearly launched a franchise for Weathers, only for behind-the-scenes business to scuttle any hope of sequels.
“We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Carl Weathers,” his family said in a statement reported by Deadline. “He died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday, February 1st, 2024. … Carl was an exceptional human being who lived an extraordinary life. Through his contributions to film, television, the arts and sports, he has left an indelible mark and is recognized worldwide and across generations. He was a beloved brother, father, grandfather, partner, and friend.”
As someone who looked up to Weathers ever since I was a kid, and basically worship at the altar of Action Jackson, Predator, and pretty much everything he did, this one is a devastating loss. Punch Drunk Critics sends our sincerest condolences to Weathers’ friends and family in their time of sorrow.
One of the great crowd-funding success stories, Jeff Chan’s sci-fi film Code 8 starred brothers Stephen and Robbie Amell. It became something of a cult favorite back in 2019, and launched a Quibi spinoff series that died along with the streaming service. But it was on Netflix where the film really took off, and naturally, the streamer quickly snapped up the sequel, Code 8: Part II, which is dropping later this month.
The previous film centered on Connor, one of the rare people who have superhuman abilities. To make ends meet and help his sick mother, he agrees to help a bunch of criminals pull off a job. The sequel picks up right where the story left off, with Connor trying to stay out of trouble after being released from prison. Of course, it goes wrong when he’s forced to help out a 14-year-old superhuman kid on the run from corrupt forces.
Along with Robbie and Stephen Amell, the sequel stars Alex Mallari Jr., Sirena Gulamgaus, Jean Yoon, and Aaron Abrams. Chan returns to direct. He also co-wrote the script with Chris Paré, Sherren Lee, and Jesse Lavercombe.
Here’s the synopsis: In this sequel to Code 8, Connor is out of prison and working as a janitor at a community center, having cut ties with his former criminal associate Garrett. Connor’s attempt at staying out of trouble is destroyed when he’s forced to help 14-year-old Pav escape from a pack of corrupt officers led by Sergeant King. King uses the newly launched robotic K9’s to track Pav down, while Connor finds himself once again reaching out to Garrett and his crew for help, but can he trust the man who landed him in prison in the first place?
Code 8: Part II hits Netflix on February 28th, and if it does well expect to see another one.
Pamela Anderson, Dave Bautista, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kiernan Shipka, Billie Lourd, Brenda Song. With those names attached, do you even care what the movie is? Neither do I, just give it to me now. Well, that film is The Last Showgirl, and it’s directed by Gia Coppola. You know what else? It’s already wrapped shooting in Las Vegas.
Deadline has info on The Last Showgirl, which stars Anderson as an aging showgirl who suddenly finds herself out of a job when her Vegas showcase abruptly shutters after thirty years. She has to figure out what to do with her life, and how to mend her relationship with her daughter.
Coppola, whose grandfather is The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, directed the 2013 film Palo Alto, as well as 2020’s Mainstream.
Coppola said about the film, “I’ve always wanted to make a movie in Vegas. I’m so proud of our cast and crew, especially Pamela. I can’t wait to share her daring and heartfelt performance!”
This could be a big comeback role for Anderson. The former Baywatch beauty never really made it as a big-screen star, her most prominent role being the high-profile flop Barb Wire. Her last lead role was in 2008 when she starred opposite Denise Richards in Blonde and Blonder.
Kate Gersten wrote The Last Showgirl’s screenplay. She has previously worked on such shows as The Good Place and Schmigadoon.
Let’s be real; Jim Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik has been the best thing about the Sonic the Hedgehog movies. Talk about inspired casting; Carrey hasn’t been this much fun to watch in ages. Unfortunately, he sorta called it quits from acting after the second movie, stating…
“It depends. If the angels bring some sort of script that’s written in gold ink that says to me that it’s going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road, but I’m taking a break.”
Well, that gold ink, it turns out, is actually a gold ring for Sonic to race through. Variety confirms that Carrey is returning as Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. This despite the villainous Eggman tumbling to his supposed doom in the previous film. While his survival was teased in a post-credits sequence, his return wasn’t official until earlier today when teased by the film’s social media account…
You all thought I was gone, but I’ve just been underground. What you’ve seen from me is only a #shadow of things to come… pic.twitter.com/3W9Rh728Tt
Jeff Fowler, who directed the first two Sonic movies to a combined $870M worldwide, is coming back for this one, too.
Sony continues to expand on the Sonic franchise. Along with these movies, there’s also a Paramount+ spinoff series, Knuckles, centered on the antihero red echidna voiced by Idris Elba. That arrives in early 2024.
Carrey rejoins fellow castmates Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, Lee Majdoub, and Elba. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will hit theaters on December 20th!
Just as musicals have made a huge comeback, music biopics aren’t going away, either. There are a handful on the way, including this month’s Bob Marley film One Love, which is already earning some solid buzz. And following that, there’s the Amy Winehouse film, Back to Black, starring U.K. star Marisa Abela as the tragic and supremely talented singer.
The film centers on the meteoric rise of Amy Winehouse, whose soulful voice captured the hearts of millions, leading to the release of her groundbreaking album, Back to Black. But it was her struggle against personal demons that also endeared her to many, and sadly she would tragically pass away in 2011 at the age of 27.
Abela isn’t a household name yet, but this is the kind of film that could change that overnight, as she’ll be doing all of her own singing. HBO viewers will recognize her from the acclaimed series, Industry. She also had a small cameo in Barbie as Teen Talk Barbie.
Also in the cast are Jack O’Connell, Eddie Marsan, and Lesley Manville. The film is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, who directed another music biopic, Nowhere Boy, about John Lennon. She’s best known for directing something called Fifty Shades of Grey? Never heard of it.
Here is the synopsis: A behind-the-scenes glimpse into Amy Winehouse’s early rise to fame and the release of her groundbreaking studio album, Back to Black. Inspired by Amy’s deeply personal and honest lyrics, the film is an unapologetic look at the woman behind the phenomenon and the tumultuous relationship at the center of one of the most legendary albums of all time.
Back to Black will hit theaters on May 17th via Focus Features.
Mads Mikkelsen might be the most terrifying actor in the world. You know a dude is scary when their smile makes you want to run for cover. But it’s Mikkelsen’s expressive face and stoic demeanor that also helps to make him so well-rounded, and capable of projecting menace as easily as he can show sensitivity. And he shows all of these traits in Nikolaj Arcel’s bleak historical drama, The Promised Land, delivering a tour-de-force performance as a man who learns he must be more adaptable than the harsh, unforgiving land he sets out to conquer.
Mikkelsen’s rugged, angular features make him perfect for the role of Captain Ludvig Kahlen, a real-life historical figure of which little is known. When we first meet him, he’s polishing his medals after 25 years serving in the German Army. However, he’s polishing them from inside of a poor house, which shows the extent of the charity extended by Denmark to its war veterans. Ludvig, with his measly pension, has aspirations of nobility, and to do it he requests Royal permission to tame the barren Jutland Heath, cultivate it, and make it capable of sustaining a community. He’s practically laughed out of the castle by the King’s aides. Many have tried and failed, and they believe Ludvig will be no different. But they grant him permission solely to keep the King happy, as he also has hopes of seeing the Heath conquered once and for all.
The rocky terrain is the least of Ludvig’s problems, it’s the people who give him the most trouble. Worst of all is local magistrate Frederik de Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg), a clownish but extremely dangerous brute who fears Ludvig’s efforts will diminish his power. Frederik will prove to be both a political and physical threat, not just to Ludvig but to the few people he comes to rely on. Those would be runaway laborers Johannes (Morten Hee Andersen) and Ann Barbara (Amanda Collin), who fled poor treatment by Frederik. And then there’s gypsy orphan Anmai Mus (Melina Hagberg), called a “darkling” and treated cruelly by everyone she encounters. In her, we see that their are caste systems in place even among the most impoverished people in the land.
The Promised Land feels like a sweeping historical epic of grand design, a real accomplishment by director Nikolaj Arcel given how simple and personal the story is. But Ludvig’s evolution is a fascinating thing to watch, as he’s not a fully heroic man by any means. In another filmmaker’s hands, that would’ve been the easy direction to take. But Ludvig starts off the film very cold and even violent to the people he meets. It’s easy to see why; you have this soldier who has risked his life for a country that disrespects him and lets him live in squalor. In this world of chaos, Ludvig is trying to carve out a place where he belongs, and he’ll not tolerate anyone who stands in his way. In the beginning, that attitude manifests in cold-hearted interactions with others.
Eventually, Ludvig’s single-minded focus becomes a different thing. When faced with Frederick’s murderous intentions, Ludvig realizes that he will need help to see his dream to fruition, and those people he dismissed earlier are the ones who will help him achieve it. They also have their own dreams to achieve, and they aren’t that much different from his own. What forms is something close to a makeshift family that Ludvig feels he must protect from harm. But Ludvig is never a saint, and it’s always when compromising those relationships he’s made that he makes his biggest mistakes. He occasionally seeks the easy way out, to keep Frederick off of his back and to please the King (“It’s the King’s land”, he always tells himself). When much-needed laborers arrive to work the land, but they demand he get rid of Anmai because darklings are supposedly bad luck, Ludvig promises to keep the girl, who has been one of his most reliable workers, hidden away and out of sight. It’s a choice he comes to regret, as he does so many others.
It’s the many contradictions swirling around in Ludvig that make The Promised Land so compelling. Backed by Dan Romer’s swelling score and fantastic performances throughout, Arcel seems to have found his groove again. One of Denmark’s most accomplished filmmakers after his Oscar-nominated drama A Royal Affair, Arcel made the crucial mistake of coming to the U.S. to direct a dreadful adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. That was six years ago, and this is his first film since then. He seems to have gotten back to his roots, not only by tackling another drama centered around nobility, but by leaning hard on the talent in front of the camera. Arcel didn’t completely leave genre behind, though. There are acts of barbarity in this film that will make your skin crawl, and the final act delivers a very bloody and crowd-pleasing coup de grace. It’s unclear how accurately The Promised Land reflects the reality of Ludvig Kahlen’s life, but this is the kind of robust storytelling and powerful depiction by Mads Mikkelsen that ensures he’ll at least be remembered cinematically for a long time to come.
Talk about a long road walked! It’s been 36 (yes, you read that right) years since Tim Burton’s iconic freelance bio-exorcist made his debut in 1988’s Beetlejuice. Just about every 3 years since then we would hear rumblings about a sequel, the most detail about which we ever got was “Beetlejuice goes Hawaiian”. It was beginning to really seem like this would be one of those amazing films that’s one and done, which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
Then a few key things happened. First and foremost, a script Tim Burton was willing to shoot was written. Second, both Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton had late career resurgences, and last Wednesdaybecame a huge hit for Netflix proving both that audiences were in the mood for something dark and funny and that they had the perfect new star in Jenna Ortega.
To say the film has been highly anticipated would be an understatement, even dispite it’s iconic status it’s still surprsing how much excitement there has been for a film that we didn’t even have an official title for yet, nostalgia is a hell of a drug. That’s all starting to change though as Warner Bros announced via their X account that the upcoming sequel would be titled Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice AND the studio was even kind enough to provide the wonderful official poster seen below.
The poster makes perfect use of a reference to the first film, the waiting room of the afterlife, to confirm the Labor Day weekend release of September 6th, 2024. What a perfect way to close out the summer, though if I’m being honest, I would have preferred it to drop just a few weeks later. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice feels like it would be best enjoyed when the air is crisp and the leaves are starting to turn. With the title and poster now out in the world it’s only a matter of time until we see the first trailer so make sure to check in with us and we’ll make sure it’s up as soon as it’s released!
Following the billion-dollar success and eight Oscar nominations for Barbie, Warner Bros. is turning their attention to another female-centric project with literally huge growth potential. Deadline reports the studio is planning a remake of the 1958 sci-fi classic, Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman. And while that’s definitely interesting, the kicker is who will team up for it, because it’s a combination I don’t think anyone could’ve seen coming: Tim Burton and author Gillian Flynn.
Burton is the surprising choice to direct Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman, and it’ll be his next film after the release of the newly-titled Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 2024 A.D.. He’ll be working with screenwriter Gillian Flynn, who is best known as the author of Gone Girl. Unexpected pairing? Yeah, you might say that.
This might be pure genius, though. Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman is a sci-fi cult classic, not too dissimilar from what Burton did on Mars Attacks! If he employs a retro style like he did on that film, and fills it with big stars and go-for-broke comedic performances, this could be something special.
All of that said, I’m not sure Flynn is the right fit for this material? I guess it just depends on the approach. Her writing tends to skew to the dark side, but if she can find some biting humor taking aim at the problems women face today, well, then it could work out.
The original movie starred Allison Hayes as a wealthy heiress whose close encounter with an alien triggers her to grow into a giant, complicating her marriage, which is already in turmoil due to her womanizing husband.
